Mary & Max

I've just finished watching 'Mary & Max' which was released on DVD earlier this week.

"Director Adam Elliot returns to the world of clay animation with this simple tale of the innocent correspondence between a portly eight year old girl from the suburbs of Melbourne and a morbidly obese, middle-aged Jewish New Yorker suffering from Asperger's Syndrome. On the surface it would seem that Mary (Toni Collette) and Max (Philip Seymour Hoffman) would have little in common, but over the course of twenty years, the unlikely pen pals exchange letters discussing everything from taxidermy, trust, pets, religion, obesity, autism, agoraphobia, alcoholism, and just about any other topic that comes to mind as they sit down and put pen to paper."

I've seen some of Adam Elliot’s earlier shorts before, including the Academy Award-winning 'Harvie Krumpet', so my expectations for 'Mary & Max' were high. I'm glad to say the film didn't disappoint. The film manages to be both sickly cute and alarmingly grotesque, but in equal measures incredibly touching and hilarious. Adam Elliot has drawn on his own experience of having an Aspergers pen pal in New York when he was growing up and in my opinion handles the subject with a profound and uncannily accurate understanding with appropriate sensitivity. For fans of Adam Elliot's work there are many in jokes and nods to his earlier films.